A Chinese patient stands next to a nurse at the Beijing Mental Health Collaborating Centre...

A Chinese patient stands next to a nurse at the Beijing Mental Health Collaborating Centre in China\'s capital October 21, 2002. About 16 million people in China, or 1.23 percent of the country\'s population, suffer schizophrenia, depression or other mental illnesses, according to the Ministry of Health. Patients on the mainland suffering serious psychiatric problems face a bleak future because of staff shortages and a lack of public awareness and legislation. China has only 575 mental health hospitals even though about 15 in every 1,000 mainlanders suffer from mental illness. The number of nurses and doctors specialising in psychiatry was only 130,000.